A 17-year-old minor boy has been taken into custody by the Panvel Taluka Police after confessing to the murder of his 74-year-old grandmother, Janaki Kanhaiya Nirguda. The incident, which occurred on April 3rd, came to light after her body was discovered three days later along a forest trail between Towerwadi and Dhamni in Panvel taluka.
According to police, the teenager strangled his grandmother using a towel out of anger, claiming that she repeatedly scolded him and accused him of theft at home. Following the murder, he stole her gold mangalsutra and two silver bangles intended for a religious offering at the Ekvira Devi temple. He then dumped her body in nearby bushes and fled the scene.
Nirguda had left her home in Towerwadi on April 3rd around 11 am to visit her daughter’s house in Dhamni village. When she failed to return, her family began a search. On April 7th, her body was found beside a remote trail in a hilly region. “During the investigation, the relatives raised suspicion over the grandson who had also left the home after the grandmother left. He had not returned home since then and had gone to stay with his mother at Nere village in Panvel Taluka. The boy’s father is no more and he stayed with his paternal grandparents at Towerwadi while his mother resided at Nere village,” police sub inspector Anirudh Gije from Panvel Taluka police station said.
During the investigation, the police found that the boy was at the same location of April 3 wherein his grandmother’s body was found and hence took him into custody.
The boy told that the grandmother often scolded him for not doing any work. He was a school drop out from class VII and has been at home since then. The boy also alleged that whenever anything went missing at home, the grandmother accused him of stealing. The boy who was irked, decided to kill her.
The further procedure of sending the boy to the juvenile correction home, has been initiated, said police.
